Archive: 2015

  1. Head Teachers’ Conference

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Head Teachers’ Conference

    We had a delightful afternoon in the beautiful setting of Swinfen Hotel near Lichfield leading an enthusiastic group of head teachers through an introduction to Philosophy for Children. This is the feedback from one of the participants:

    “High quality presentation with a variety of activites which engaged me and enabled me to form a clear understanding of P4C. I like the very structured approach to developing pupil’s ability to:

    • think
    • form open ended questions
    • develop confidence to speak, share and discuss in front of others.

    It was very useful, I intend to follow up on this at my school.”

  2. Exactly what we are looking for…

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Exactly what we are looking for…

    “The principles of P4C are exactly what we are looking for as a school to develop our pupils as independent thinkers who understand they have a voice and an opinion.” This comment is from the school we worked with recently in Hull. Working with a very lively and enthusiastic group of teachers the training day was great fun! Here are some feedback comments:

    “Brilliant examples of games / activities that we can carry out with the class, shows how quickly / easily speaking and listening can improve and creative thinking can be promoted.”

    “Excellent – working through the activities really helped to experience the process and to see the value of the discussions.”

    “Lots of ideas to take away and use to make P4C successful in our school. The practical side of the course is really useful to help you with your own practise. Many thanks!”

  3. Feedback

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Feedback

    We work very hard at the planning stage to ensure our training sessions are tailored to the needs of each school we work with and we really value the comments from staff at the end of the training day.  Our feedback forms ask for comments on presentation, content and how useful the session was. We had an inspiring day with a delightful group of teachers in Northamptonshire and here are some of their comments:

    Presentation:

    Excellent. Felt at ease and enthused by the way it was delivered.

    Absolutely fantastic! Very engaging and well balanced with discussions and activities.

    Very professional, thought provoking and inclusive (it’s rare that I am fully engaged for a full day!)

    Content:

    Very inspiring and exciting.

    Excellent. Practical ideas, the “reality”, and what not to do. Can’t wait to try it out!

    Accessible and good variety.

    Was the session useful?

    Very much so. I think it could change our school massively, show the children how thinking can be fun and help them express and understand themselves and each other.

    Yes. Pitched perfectly and demonstrated well. I can see this working brilliantly in our school and feel that I should always have been doing it!

    Very much so. It gave me lots of ideas and information all of which are useable in the classroom (and at home). I thoroughly enjoyed today – thank you!

     

     

  4. Extremely useful, very enjoyable…

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Extremely useful, very enjoyable…

    “Extremely useful, very enjoyable, looking forward to using this with the children!”

    “Excellent! So much was covered in the day.”

    It’s good to know our training is inspiring! These are a couple of comments from the schools we worked with on Inset days at the start of this term. With two schools at opposite sides of the country we did a lot of miles, from St Helens near Liverpool on Tuesday to North Norfolk on Wednesday. We were made very welcome in both schools and left staff eager to bring philosophical enquiry to their classes.

    We will be on the road again later this month to schools in South London and Nortamptonshire.

     

  5. Breaking News… Philosophy sessions boost results

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Breaking News… Philosophy sessions boost results

    We are SO happy today to see the results of the study carried out for the Education Endowment Foundation. It confirms everything we have experienced and believe about the benefits philosophy for children.

    The report demonstrates that, not only does philosophy have a positive impact on pupils’ maths, reading and writing skills generally it works particularly well for the most disadvantaged children.

    Teachers involved in the study observed a beneficial impact on pupils’ confidence, patience and self-esteem.

    Read more about the stduy and findings here

  6. Educating Future Philosophers…

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Educating Future Philosophers…

    Educating Future Philosophers… what a great day!

    This special event was held at, and organised by, the University of East Anglia to explore the role Philosophy plays, and can play, in a student’s life from primary school through to university.

    The event was fully booked and brought together teachers and university academics to share experiences about teaching Philosophy and using it in school and university environments.

    Philosophy4Children ran an experiential session with primary teachers, secondary teachers and university lecturers who started their enquiry with the question “I wonder if you can ever be really happy after childhood” a very engaging question – what do you think?

  7. Educating Future Philosophers: A Teachers’ Networking Event

    Posted on by Dot Lenton in News Comments Off on Educating Future Philosophers: A Teachers’ Networking Event

    The University of East Anglia, in partnership with Philosophy4Children, would like to invite teachers to a special event to explore the role Philosophy plays, and can play, in a student’s life across the whole student lifecycle. The event will be hosted by our School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies.

    Educating Future Philosophers will bring teachers and university academics together to network and to share experiences about teaching Philosophy and using Philosophy in the classroom in both the school and university environment. Our aim is to look anew at Philosophy and collaboratively find ways in which to improve the teaching and application of Philosophy across the whole student lifecycle.

    The event will consist of three sessions, a buffet dinner and drinks. These three sessions will cover primary, secondary and Higher Education discussion. The primary session will be led by Philosophy4Children, whilst for the secondary session a panel of secondary teachers will share their own experiences of teaching Philosophy and then answer any questions from delegates. The Higher Education session will explore how Philosophy is taught at university, and how the study of Philosophy could be more cohesive.

    The event is free to attend but must be pre-booked. We will also reimburse travel expenses.

    Essential Information
    Date and time: 28 April 2015, 17.00 – 20.00
    Venue: The University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ
    Network Coordinator: Dr Kim Ridealgh
    To book: Please email Hum.Outreach@uea.ac.uk for further information.UEA logo

  8. On the road again!

    Posted on by Dot Lenton in News Comments Off on On the road again!

    Philosophy4Children were on the road once more. On Tuesday we went back to the school in Canterbury that we had visited in November. The staff were full of information about the impact that philosophy had had on their children. They said that the children had been enjoying the approach very much. One said that her small children in reception had loved the language and saying the sentence “I agree with John because…..” and then forgot the rest of the sentence! The staff were very enthusiastic and were receptive and keen to move on philosophically. We explored the development of games – how you can get more from them; we looked for links in questions and we considered the way in which the facilitator could be more effective when working with a group. It was a very happy and excited group and we left feeling very buoyed up by the experience. It was a long trek back to Norfolk for an early start the next day to continue the filming of the class that we have been working with for the last three terms. Very rewarding results though. The class teacher said, “It is obvious children are getting better at listening to each other – there is more awareness of others’ ideas within the group.” This has to be the best job in the world!

  9. Starting a new term

    Posted on by Barbara Vidion in News Comments Off on Starting a new term

    We started this term in an infant school in Norwich with a very enthusiastic staff group. We certainly enjoyed the session – there was lots of exciting thinking pondering the nature of happiness. The staff enjoyed it too. Here are some comments:

    “Excellent. Everyone participated well making it a good learning atmosphere.”

    “Clear presentation, excellent delivery.”

    “Clear progression with lots of interaction. Thank you!”

    “Lots of information and loads of useful advice to use in lessons.”